December 2
The Struggle for Justice Is Righteous, and It Must Spread and Intensify
December 2, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
This past week has been painful, and glorious. The pain of yet one more outrage—the exoneration without even a trial of Darren Wilson, the cop who killed Mike Brown, an unarmed Black youth. The pain of Wilson’s openly racist testimony, calling Mike Brown a “demon,” referring to Mike as “it,” and so much else. The pain of the DA’s callous sneering face. The pain of the many racist mouths that echoed and justified the verdict.
But, even more, the glory. The glory of people finally standing up against this vicious system and its enforcers! As we said last week, “The red hot tears of Michael Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, melted the ice and overflowed the dam of pent-up righteous anger among the people, and that anger finally began to flood into the streets in a way that has been long overdue and badly needed. The anger in Ferguson lit up and summoned tens of thousands of people all over the country to come out of their isolated homes, to raise their too-long quiet voices and their fists, to march for hours, to block traffic, to brave arrests and sprayings and beatings, to stop business as usual and to say, in voices that could finally be heard and had finally to be listened to: ‘NO MORE! NO MORE!! NO GODDAMN MORE!!! STOP KILLING OUR YOUTH—NOW!!!’”
From the youth blocking the highways to the athletes and entertainers who’ve put their careers on the line to make a statement... from the actions disrupting Black Friday shopping rituals to the colleges where people are marching and “dying in”... and in the Ferguson area itself, where people’s outrage lit up the night... people have stood up—Black people and other people of color, side by side with many whites. During this last week, the actions of the people have done more than all the commissions, elections, reforms, lectures, and other bullshit of the past two decades. The actions of those who rose up let hundreds of thousands find their voices and locate their consciences and gave hope to millions more, here and around the world. The people who stood up compelled tens of millions to confront one huge, taproot part of the ugliness that is America: America’s ghoulish, horrific practice of using people who are supposed to be “serving and protecting” to not just pen in, lock down, abuse, humiliate, and brutally attack the Black and Latino and other “minority” youth who live here, as these heartless monsters do every hour of every day, but to outright murder these youth, stealing their lives and wreaking havoc on their families and friends... and then justifying these murders as “legal.”
In short, the people have, in this past week, taken a beginning but big step toward stopping this madness. And Obama, once again, has it exactly wrong: righteous rebellion is precisely what changes things.
THIS MUST NOT STOP. THIS MUST GO ON. THIS MUST SPREAD. AND IT MUST INTENSIFY.
There are many sections of the people who must be brought forward into the struggle. In some cities, Monday showed that youth in the high schools are ready to take a stand. Go to them. It must be clear that there is a new generation that is not going to be quiet and turn its head in the face of outrageous injustice.
Some of the actions taken in the communities of the oppressed on Saturday, even if small, revealed a hint of the severe oppression these communities face. The actions of people showed tremendous potential and a deep well of righteous anger. “Ferguson is everywhere,” says the slogan, and this is true. Ambitious actions should be planned in ghettos and barrios that make clear to all that those most under the gun are determined to stand up and get organized. And those from outside those communities should be invited and urged to be part of that, to show the support that people will have as they DO raise their voices and fists.
Artists and athletes—like the five players on the St. Louis Rams—are beginning to take important stands. The movement for revolution needs to reach a hand to the artists and others who are doing this or want to find ways to do this, giving them venues and ways to connect with the people. These voices must be amplified and spread.
IMPORTANT: Be ready to rush to the scene of any outbreak of struggle. And be ready to defend anyone who gets arrested fighting for justice, with bail and lawyers and political support. In everything, have banners and posters—visual presence is absolutely important to get out a clear, basic message and where to go for more.
After an action is over, don’t just go home. Get coffee, or go back to Revolution Books, or hang out—but GET ORGANIZED!
In all this, take out the larger picture. Answer people’s questions about WHY these murdering police keep killing our youth, and HOW to stop this, and WHAT revolution is by letting them know about the website WWW.REVCOM.US. Strip away the legitimacy of this system. Show people that the murdering monsters who run this system, these masters of drones and nukes and prisons and all kinds of horror, they who sit on top of this empire of rape, of kidnaping, of genocide, of bitter grinding exploitation, have absolutely no right to rule, no right to keep using force to keep people down, no right to keep people exploited, no right whatsoever to keep them penned in and locked down and on the run. Get out Revolution newspaper, with word of the recent historic Dialogue between Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and Cornel West, the revolutionary Christian. Introduce people to the work and leadership of Bob Avakian—wield BAsics, the handbook of revolution, while you are out among people, and have copies to sell. Get out many copies of this paper, and turn people on to the important statement by Carl Dix in this issue. Call programs and meetings, at Revolution Books, but in other communities, too.
Find the ways to get speakers for the revolution out there. Look for media opportunities for Carl Dix or other people who can put forward the need for revolution in a compelling way. (This is a good job for people who cannot, for whatever reason, be out among the people.) Make tons of signs for people with the main slogans against police murder and the name of the website www.revcom.us on the bottom, and get these out to people.
In sum: can’t stop, won’t stop, keep on fighting the power, and transforming the people, FOR REVOLUTION!
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